After falling behind to Wycombe in League One, Fulham overcame an all-out scare to salvage a 1-1 draw and ultimately beat their opponents on penalties to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Benjamin Lecomte was a hero for the Premier League side in his third game with the club, with the goalkeeper saving three penalties in the shootout and Issa Diop sealing their place in the next round with a powerful strike.
Wycombe put in an excellent performance against a team 44th above them in the Football Pyramid, but it ended in bad fashion as the assistant referee appeared to be hit by a bottle thrown by a member of the crowd shortly after Diop’s winning kick.
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Fulham saved five penalties in a penalty shootout against Wycombe Wanderers to advance to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
In a statement, Wycombe said they “strongly condemned” the incident and were already working to identify those responsible, with head coach Michael Duff adding: “Referees and linesmen are human beings and we don’t know if they made a mistake, but if they did, no one deserves it.”
“The club will find the culprit and suspend him, and rightfully so. This is a community club and there is no place for that in any part of football.”
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Wycombe manager Michael Duff called for the assistant referee to suspend the person responsible for throwing the bottle.
Lecomte’s night ended as he suffered his first defeat of his Fulham career within four minutes. Hopes for an upset were high when former Cottage forward Cory Woodrow’s powerful shot early on hit the goalkeeper at the near post.
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Cory Woodrow put Wycombe in the lead with a superb shot from outside the area, scoring against his former club Fulham.
This was Wycombe’s only chance of the first half, but instead they invited Fulham to break a low block, and the high-minded visitors became increasingly frustrated, forcing Will Norris into a remarkable single save from Raul Jimenez’s flicked header.
Mullins fired home a minute after the restart and Wycombe could have doubled their lead heading into the second period, but Fulham’s pressure soon came through with a moment of magic from teenager Josh King.
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In the Carabao Cup game against Wycombe, Josh King’s deft flick from Kevin’s corner helped Fulham equalize.
Fulham finally threatened to take the lead three minutes into the second half, when he showed off his Premier League flair by scoring the equalizer with a backheel flick from Kevin’s corner kick.
Despite the introduction of Alex Iwobi, Ryan Sessegnon and Sasa Lukic, it will never fully materialize without the hosts’ stubborn approach finding a way.
Fulham’s attempts to avoid a penalty draw were in vain, and the hosts needed the tact of manager Anders Hagerschaar to deny Iwobi a goal in stoppage time, but otherwise enjoyed a relatively comfortable run over the remaining 90 minutes.
Benjamin Lecomte was Fulham’s hero in their Carabao Cup fourth round penalty shootout win at Wycombe.
However, going into the shoot-out, Wycombe quickly found themselves on the back foot, with Ewan Henderson having his first penalty denied by Lecomte.
After nine perfect spot-kicks for both teams, Ryan Sessegnon had a chance to end Fulham’s run, but a superb stop from Norris meant the penalty shootout went to sudden death, with Fred Onidinma, Jonah Cusi-Asare and Donell McNeely saving successive penalties before Diop came forward to narrowly beat the Cottage.
Duff: That’s how you lose the game.
Wycombe manager Michael Duff:
“If you’re going to lose the game, that’s how you should lose it. We gave a great account of ourselves. Every play they made, they scored one off the line and we conceded from the corner.
“I thought we were very good and hard-working. When we first came in, everyone said we couldn’t defend, but they did everything I asked them to do. In the end, it was a coin flip. I was a little frustrated, but proud at the same time.”
Silva: “I took the game seriously, but it wasn’t intense enough”
Fulham manager Marco Silva:
“Of course, it’s not a word you should use in football, but we knew it was our duty to get to the next round, because we know in this competition that if you don’t take it seriously, the unexpected can happen.
“We were working hard, but when you get a bad result you have to be positive and confident, but we felt something around us and the first minutes of the game showed that. It was their only shot on target and it was a goal we should have defended better.”
“In the first half we didn’t play as hard as we should have, but after that we did well and created seven or eight clear chances. I told the players that in situations like this you have to be positive first.”
“We know what’s going on at the club, we know what’s going on in the dressing room. We know that the future will be better if the players come back, but we have to fight as hard as we can for this moment.”
